If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Monday, October 16, 2023, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Beware, there are spoilers below for October 16, NYT Connections #127! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game.
If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.
Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And further down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!
Does today’s Connections game require any special knowledge?
Table of Contents
There are references to an iconic TV show; you might know the older version, or the more recent spinoff. (Or, for a few of you, the comic that predated both.)
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
- Yellow category – Yesterday and tomorrow, among others.
- Green category – Something smells in here.
- Blue category – Snap twice.
- Purple category – I wouldn’t give you a big ol’ thick juicy clue here, would I?
Does today’s Connections game involve any wordplay?
There’s a fill-in-the-blank for the purple category. The rest is just the normal ambiguity. Once you figure out which days of the week don’t belong with the others, the rest is easy.
Ready to hear the answers? Keep scrolling if you want a little more help.
BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!
We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)
What are the ambiguous words in today’s Connections?
- To TURN can be to move in a rotational manner. It can also mean TURNing from one state to another, as when milk starts to go bad.
- To give someone some LIP is to sass your elders. You can also get a fat LIP if you’re in a fight; Merriam-Webster tells me that a LIP is “either of two fleshy folds that surround the mouth in humans and many other vertebrates.”
- To FESTER is to ROT disgustingly. It’s also the name of the uncle from the Addams Family.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
- Yellow: DAYS OF THE WEEK
- Green: GO BAD
- Blue: “THE ADDAMS FAMILY” CHARACTERS
- Purple: FAT ____
DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW
Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.
What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?
The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is DAYS OF THE WEEK and the words are: FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY, THURSDAY.
What are the green words in today’s Connections?
The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today’s green category is GO BAD and the words are: ROT, SOUR, SPOIL, TURN.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is “THE ADDAMS FAMILY” CHARACTERS and the words are: FESTER, LURCH, THING, WEDNESDAY.
What are the purple words in today’s Connections?
The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today’s purple category is FAT ____ and the words are: CAT, CHANCE, LIP, TUESDAY.
How I solved today’s Connections
There are more than four days of the week—which means one has to have another meaning. How about spooky girl WEDNESDAY? She’s got an Uncle FESTER, a butler LURCH, and a…pet? they call THING. 🟦
That still leaves five days, though! What else? I looked at the other words. What does CHANCE have to do with anything? Oh wait—fat CHANCE, fat LIP, fat CAT, and then we’d have to go with Mardi Gras, a.k.a. Pancake Day, a.k.a. Fat TUESDAY. 🟪
Finally I can submit my days of the week, which turn out to be themed DAYS OF THE WEEK. 🟨 It’s a yellow grouping. Just because yellow is the “easiest” doesn’t mean it’s going to be the one you solve first; it’s just the one where the connection between the words is easiest to grasp.
Finally, we’re left with SOUR, ROT, SPOIL, and TURN—when used as verbs, they are ways that milk (or other foods) can go bad. 🟩
Connections
Puzzle #127
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How to play Connections
I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s a refresher on the rules:
First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Crossword app. You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).
Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.
You win when you’ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.
How to win Connections
The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don’t hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.
If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes, either.
Another way to win when you’re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!